Events

Photography Exhibition.

Chris Low first became attracted to punk in 1978 at the age of nine. A year later he started going to gigs and at the age of eleven embraced the emerging band and zine scene that would come to be known as ‘anarcho punk’ publishing three issues of the fanzine, Guilty of What? and taking up drumming. Since the early 1980s he has played, recorded and toured with legendary acts including Political Asylum, The Apostles, Oi Polloi, The Parkinsons, Quango Part1.  Following a career as a techno DJ and club runner in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s he continues to DJ throughout Japan, America & Europe, generally playing sets of danceable post-punk. He has written regularly for Vice magazine amongst other publications and has contributed to a number of books on the punk movement. In August 2016 an exhibition of his photography documenting five years of the Tokyo punk scene entitled “Up Yours! Tokyo Punk” was held at the Red Gallery in Shoreditch, London followed by further exhibitions in Japan, London and at Rebellion Festival. His work is featured as a guest gallery on the site of renowned photographer and street-style anthropologist, Ted Polhemus and he has recently designed record covers and graphics for Fucked Up, Rema Rema and others. Chris is currently working on an anarcho-themed compilation album for the renowned Glasgow Optimo label, a revised and expanded edition of his photo-book, “Japanarchy Today” (Red Gallery Publishing) and another compiling photos taken around London, Los Angeles and Tokyo entitled ‘Subculture Club’ to be published in late 2019.

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Chris Low @ Instagram: chris__low

Workshop ran by Feminist/Queer Discussion Group, National University of Ireland Galway Collective

This workshop emerged from a group we organise at NUI Galway, Ireland: The Feminist/Queer Discussion Group for Postgraduate Researchers. We read current feminist/queer research from across disciplines, whilst also creating support for fellow feminist researchers and, importantly, creating a place in which to discuss the experiences of being a feminist/queer postgraduate.

During our conversations a central theme has emerged in our discussions around the disruption of spaces that exclude, or are experienced as hostile, and the creation and construction of ‘refuge’ (Haraway), or places that make possible a supportive environment in which to think. In this context the idea of refuge becomes an act of political assemblage. This central theme also appears in many of our individual research projects.

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In February 2019 we held a collaborative workshop replicating what we do in the group as part of the Department of Sociology and Political Science's Research Festival. We will present a workshop on the experiences of holding this workshop and the central themes which emerged, including:

• exclusion/erasure,

• privilege and coming up against it,

• space as active assemblages of disruption against exclusionary spaces and practices (i.e. refuge),

• creating intentional space in our group to name the walls (Ahmed, 2012, 2017) we come up against,

• the issues and potential limits of inclusion.

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We want to explore how these themes connect, or perhaps contradict, traditional ideas of 'protest': can sitting around a table talking be considered resistance? And if so, does this disrupt ideas of protest as exclusively visible, glamorous and 'brave' acts of public resistance. What might this say about how protest requires an anchor/refuge in protected spaces. In particular we want to reflect on how academia pervasively insists on the notion of an independent thinker who is not only brilliant but works by HIMself. We argue that feminist theory/practice offers a legacy “to dismantle hegemonic cultural discourses and conservative cultures”. Resistance has to be sustained collectively and daily in order to make sense of our lives as PhD students. In this way we want to explore how fleeting moments of disruption can be understood, as momentary space in which encounters have the possibility for protest.

Radical and Community Bookshop.

News from Nowhere are Liverpool's not-for-profit radical & community bookshop - established in 1974, and run collectively by a women workers' co-operative (which means no boss & no owner!) News From Nowhere will be present at the conference to sell books from their Bold Street book shop.

Archive Exhibition

Archive material from the 'Jon Savage: England's Dreaming' archive held by Liverpool John Moores University will be showcased alongside photographer Chris Low's exhibition.